AS SEEN ON CHANNEL 5's 'FILTHY BRITAIN S.O.S'
Bumble Bee Removal/Relocation
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WHAT CAN WE DO WITH YOUR BUMBLE BEE INFESTATION?
Saving, relocating, conserving, re-homing, or indeed living with a colony of Bumble bees is nearly always your ONLY LEGAL WAY FORWARD.
Every Bumble bee removal we do is different, every Bumble bee relocation comes with its own set of challenges, every Bumble bee extraction is a methodical, dangerous, and challenging job. But, it's a job we love to do and we excel at removing bumblebee nests and re-homing the Bumble bee colony.
WE ALWAYS SAVE BEES. We specialise in removing and re-homing both Honey bees and Bumble bees, but on this page we will be looking at your options to get rid of Bumble bees and what we can do and can't do for you. Honey bee removal is a whole different skill set, so if you need them extracting, you will find all the information you require here.
If you would like to know more about the protected status of Bumble or Honey bees, and why killing bees is nearly always illegal, then please take a look at this page on our website then read this blog.
Killing 100's of innocent bumble bees is pretty much always illegal
To cut a long story short, euthanising or killing a Bumble bee colony can only legally be carried out if NO other option is available. There is ALWAYS another option. Killing 100's of innocent Bumble bees is pretty much ALWAYS ILLEGAL. So please don't ask us to break the law, or indeed, help you to break the law. We simply won't do it, so don't ask!
So now we know that killing bees isn't an option, let us look together through some common scenarios, where Bumble bees can be a problem, and at what the Pest Interceptors will do for you and your Bumble bee colony. Feel free to skip to the section that best suits your bee problem.
*CAUTION: BUMBLEBEES CAN STING OVER AND OVER AGAIN, just like their relatives the wasps, so please do not underestimate them. Just because the Bumble bees look fluffy and cuddly, don't be fooled, they can pack quite a punch if they feel under threat or they perceive you, your children, or your pets as a potential danger to their nest.
The most common Bumble bee problem scenarios are, Bumblebees in a bird box, Bumblebees flying near guttering and entering lofts, Bumblebees in walls, Bumblebees in compost heaps and other strange places. We list these common scenarios below, but if your bumble bee problem isn't listed here, just call us, we always enjoy a challenge.
WATCH THIS QUICK VIDEO CLIP TO CONFIRM THAT THEY ARE BUMBLE BEES AND NOT WASPS OR HONEY BEES -
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WHAT IF YOU HAVE BUMBLE BEES IN A BIRD BOX?
This is a really common call for the Pest Interceptors to receive in the call centre. So don't panic, help is at hand. We remove Bumble bee colonies that have made a bees nest in bird boxes all the time.
We will need to take the bird box that is full of bumblebees away with us. Taking a bird box full of Bumble bees away can be really quite tricky sometimes, as bird boxes are usually poorly constructed and can be very fragile due to the wood they are made of being rotten.
There are two things that will make Bumblebees attack
These things are the CO2 in a person's breath, and, any vibrations that the bees feel in, or around, the nest. So, as you can imagine, when we are up close and personal with a 500 strong colony of bumblebees, undoing ancient screws and fixings to remove an old rotten bird box, there is a lot of potential for angry bumble bees to attack.
Once we have secured and removed the bird box full of bees we will make the bird box super secure before taking them away…the last thing we want is for the bees to start escaping inside the vehicle as we drive!!!
The job isn't over for the Pest Interceptors just yet. Upon safely removing the bumble bee filled bird box we now have to re-home the Bumble bees. We will take the bumble bee colony in the bird box to one of our re-homing sites. They will stay here until their natural life cycle is run through in a safe place away from you, your family and your pets. Happy Bumbles, happy customers, happy Pest Interceptors.
The whole process can be quite time consuming and come with unforeseen problems, like, bird boxes disintegrating as we remove them or the original fixings used could be a real struggle to get the bee filled bird box free. But we always get the bumblebees and the bird box out and to safety in the end.
The price we quote you will be the price you pay, no hidden extras or nasty surprises from the Pest Interceptors.
HERE ARE TWO VIDEOS OF SOME OF THE MANY BUMBLEE BEES IN BIRD BOXES WE RE-HOME -
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WHAT ABOUT BUMBLE BEES UP BY MY ROOF OR GUTTERS?
By far the most common call into our call centre about Bumble bees is for bees that are flying around the guttering of a house. In fact, if it's May or June and there are bees circling around by your guttering, they are nearly always Tree Bumblebees.
Tree Bumblebees are actually a non-native species of bumble bee, they came to the South Coast of England in the year 2000 and have slowly moved up through the country until now they have reached as far north as Scotland! We first had occasional calls about them in 2013, but, by 2015 we were inundated by calls about them. Every May and June we now get snowed under with calls, about Tree bees!
...Big difference is the rate that they breed
Tree Bumblebees behave very differently to all our native Bumbles. One of the biggest differences is the fact that they will over-winter, so if they are there this year, they are likely to be there next year too!
Another big difference with these bees is the rate at which they breed! If you are unlucky enough to have some nesting up by your gutters (they are usually nesting inside the loft, they make their nest in your loft insulation or old birds' nests) you will notice that there are 3 different sizes of bee. Small bees, medium sized bees and quite massive bees. These are respectively, female workers bees, male drone bees and queen bees.
If you stand and watch them, from a safe distance, you will notice that the medium sized (male/drone bees) never actually go into the nest, they just circle round and round, sometimes bumping into each other as they jostle for position. This mid-air battle is called a mating dance. These medium sized male bees are there for only one reason, that reason is to mate! They are not actually part of that bee colony, they are male bees from nearby colonies looking to catch a queen.
While you watch, after 5 or 10 minutes, you will see a massive Queen Tree bumblebee leave the nest. The male bees will go crazy as they chase her, each competing with the other male bees to be the lucky one to grab the Queen and mate with her.
The 'lucky' male bumble bee will latch on to the larger Queen bee in the air, sometimes the added weight will make the two bees come crashing down to the ground, where the male will hold on tightly until he has mated the Queen. The 'lucky' male bee then drops off and dies, that’s his life cycle complete. The pregnant Queen then flies off to make a new nest for next year, usually not too far from the original nest.
When the nest has really got going there can be 50 or more male bees circling around the nest entrance, all looking for a queen. The nest of Tree Bumblebees doesn't just have one queen though, unlike Honey bees and all our native bumbles that only have one or two queens, the nest of Tree bees produces many, many queens! Each one that gets mated is a new nest for next year. Each one of those new nests isn't going to be too far away from your house. In fact, initially, before we realised just how different from our native bees Tree bumblebees were in their behaviours, especially their rapid breeding cycle, we always used to say to potential clients, "No need to worry, they will be gone in a couple of months, and when they go they won't return." We now know that this is wrong. They will probably over-winter and there's a very good chance there will be more nests in your roof and your neighbours' roofs next summer.
*CAUTION: If you have a nest of Tree Bumblebees please keep your distance. All our native bumble bees are really quite placid animals, you would really need to annoy them before they would sting you. Tree bumbles are very different in this respect.
Two things make them attack. Vibrations of your movements and the CO2 in your breath. If the bees inside the nest sense you are there, by feeling vibrations from you, the nest will send lots and lots little Worker Bees to defend the nest. Within seconds these bees will be looking for the 'attacker'. They do this initially by sight, but then, to zone in on your soft, easily stung, sensitive parts, like your nose and mouth, they follow your CO2. Once one bee has found the target she stings multiple times (unlike Honey bees that only sting once) and at the same time she sends out pheromones (chemical smell signals) to tell her friends to come join her in stinging you. So, please, think twice before getting too close to Tree Bumble bees!!!
We have removed hundreds, if not thousands of tree bumble nee nests...
We have removed hundreds, if not thousands of tree Bumblebee nests from peoples attics and lofts over the years. How we do this is by physically removing the colony of bumblebees from your attic. This is a dangerous and sometimes scary job, but it's what we do, and we do it excellently.
Our job isn't over just yet though, we then have to transport the bees to a safe place, usually to our Honey bee quarantine apiary, but in really busy years we even have to fill the Pest Interceptors headquarters garden with boxes of bumbles!!!
The short YouTube video below shows how we remove bumble bees from lofts or attics. This was early in the season, so about as easy as it gets. Please remember that as time passes, the nest gets bigger and bigger, there are more and more bees to remove, the breeding will be going on every day that passes, and the heat in the roof starts rising as we go into summer. So, to keep costs down and to stop further complications, act fast, if you’ve got bees, it's always better to remove them early, rather than letting the bees become even more established, numerous and more difficult to remove due to colony size and the temperatures we have to contend with in your roof space. EARLY EXTRACTION = CHEAPER EXTRACTION.
Take a look at this video of us removing a nest from a loft -
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HOW WE REMOVE BUMBLE BEES FROM COMPOST HEAPS AND OTHER PLACES THEY NEST
Bumble bees can nest in some strange and crazy places! For some reason they seem to like compost heaps. How we deal with this is either to fit a new entrance pipe, as we do with Bumble bees in a cavity wall, as mentioned above, or, more commonly, what we do is to dig the bees' nest out of the compost heap. We then put the bees' nest/colony into a box and take it away to a safe place.
Bumble bees will nest in many different places, too many to list on this webpage, but, if your Bumble bees are nesting somewhere not listed on this webpage, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are here to 'Protect and Serve', so ask us the question and we will endeavour to come up with a solution to your pest or bee removal problems that suits you and your bumblebee nest.
Here is a video of some Tree Bumble bees that decided to nest inside a rabbit hutch that stray cats were living in!!! See, I told you they get in some strange places!!!
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH BUMBLE BEES IN A CAVITY WALL?
Another common call we get in our call centre is for Bumblebees in a cavity wall. There are 3 methods that we can deploy in this problem bumble bee scenario.
You can learn to live with the Bumble bees. Most species of bumble bee will only be in situ for a 2 or 3 months, then the nest will die off and the Queen Bumble will leave and hide away somewhere until next year, when she will re-emerge in the Spring and start a new nest somewhere completely different.
However, if you are unlucky enough to be infested by Tree Bumblebees, then, this species, a foreign invader from the continent, can 'over winter' and be living in the same place for (in our experience) up to 7 years!!! Tree Bumblebees are quite distinctive in appearance and behaviour - see the video above.
As a last resort we can take the wall apart and remove the colony, but this really would be a last resort. The Pest Interceptors can do this for you, but we will always try to find a quicker, much cheaper, more efficient way to remove the threat of living with a Bumblebee colony.
The best thing to do with bumble bees living in your cavity walls is for the Pest Interceptors to move the entry point of the bees. "How??!" I hear you say. Well, that’s why you need our experience and the skill set we have acquired in over 10 years of dealing with Bumblebees.
...Move the entry point of the bees
Usually we will install a flexible pipe/tube from the entry point that the bumblebees are using in your wall. We neatly run the flexible tubing from the entry point in the wall of your house to somewhere that the bumblebees can come and go without causing you stress, worry, or the risk of you, your family or your pets being stung by the bees.
When we carry out this service for you (and the bumblebees) we will install the tubing during normal working hours, but we have to return at night to put the tube into the nest entry. The reason for this is that we need all the bumbles to be inside the bumble bee nest before we give them a new entrance. The bees will discover this when they wake up in the morning and go about their Bumblebee business using their new safe route to the outside world.